HRIS Planner
I. Select the Right Vendor
II. Get your Project Approved
III. Factors for your Decision
IV. Involve Key Personnel in the Decision Process
V. Hardware Considerations
VI. List your Current or Future Plans for Hardware or Software Upgrade
VII. Describe the process and frequency for moving data between payroll and HR:
VIII. Areas of Interest (check all that apply)
IX. Current Data Sources
X. How can an integrated system save you time and effort?
XI. Schedule
XII. Internal Resource Allocation
XIII. Reports
XIV. Current Projects and Activities
XV. Required new features
XVI. Other Considerations
XVII. Use this Checklist for comparing products
Project Planning Sheet™
Human Resource Information Systems
Proper planning of your HRIS project will insure the selection of a high-value, cost effective system. Be sure to consider all of the critical elements when upgrading or installing an HRIS. Expand this plan as necessary to include specific needs, and remember, there is no such thing as too much planning.
I. Identify your size range
Vendors come in all flavors and sizes. While this Project Planner is simply a guideline, it will help you find a vendor that suits your budget and requirements.
II. Get your Project Approved
How does the approval process work in your company? Some companies will consider an HRIS investment a frivolous expense. Why? This happens when the project is not carefully thought out, and the value of a system is not communicated to senior management. Consider the time savings when you no longer have to duplicate employee data. Consider the value of management analysis, government reporting and compliance, reduced need for staff increases and finally, assistance with financial impact and analysis reporting. A good vendor will help you effectively present these benefits to management.
Do you need project approval? __________________________________________________________________________
By what date would you like the system installed: ________________________________________________________
How long does the vendor estimate for installation: ______________________________________________________
Software budget: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Training budget: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Implementation budget: ________________________________________________________________________________
Maintenance and support budget: ______________________________________________________________________
III. Define your business objectives
What are the key factors that are driving this decision to purchase an HRIS?
1. No current system
2. Current solution is out-of-date or won’t grow.
3. Company is adding more employees
4. More complex transactions such as benefits or attendance
5. Current system is not performing
What would happen if you did not purchase a new HRIS?
1. Loss of productivity
2. Loss of talented employees
3. Loss of talented applicants
4. Nothing
What added value will the new system bring to your organization?
1. Ability to produce information not possible within the current environment
2. Ability to do the same things:
a. Better
b. Faster
c. At a lower cost
IV. Project Timing
Are there any real or perceived deadlines important to the installation of the system?
What is the estimated date for completion of the project?
Will resources be available to work on the project in the allotted time?
V. Budget Factors
Have you considered the following budget items?
Software Licensing
Implementation
Training
Maintenance and support
Customization and reports
Time for your staff to work on the conversion
VI. Delivery Consideration
Have you considered how the application is delivered? Do you want it in-house or as a hosted service with a monthly processing fee? Each method has its own benefits and drawbacks.
VII. Factors for your Decision
Decide in advance what will help determine the best vendor for your company.
? Price (Value) ________________________________
? Ease of Use _________________________________
? Support ____________________________________
? Training ____________________________________
? Location of Vendor __________________________
? Features ____________________________________
? Ability to grow ______________________________
? Database Format _____________________________
? Interfaces to systems ________________________
? Client Server ________________________________
? Web based___________________________________
? Other_______________________________________
VIII. Involve Key Personnel in the Decision Process
This process should include members of the HR, Finance and IT Departments. Each member should be responsible for evaluating his or her respective areas of the project.
Committee members:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
IX. Hardware Considerations
Network Windows 2000 Windows 2003 Windows 2008 Windows XP
Server Microsoft Novell Unix Linux
Report Writer Crystal Reports R&R Report Smith Access
User Skills Basic Advanced Power User
Email Server MS Exchange GroupWise Lotus Notes
Number of HR Users: ____________________________________________
Internet Connection: Dialup Less than1Mb DSL/ISDN Greater than 1Mb
X. List your Current or Future Plans for Hardware or Software Upgrade
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What Payroll product or service do you use? ________________________________________
Version ____________________________________
Would you like to interface from payroll to HR? _______________________________________
XI. Describe the process and frequency for moving data between payroll and HR:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
XII. Areas of Interest (circle all that apply)
Applicant Management, Automatic Report Distribution, Benefit Statements,
Benefits Administration, Budget Planning, Cafeteria Benefits,
Client/Server, Cobra Tracking, Company Property,
Compensation, Education, EEO And AAP,
Employee Self-Service, Financial Planning, Flexible Benefits,
Grievance Tracking, Health, I-9 Tracking,
Import/Export, Job Analysis, Job History,
Licensing, Life/Accident Insurance, Manager Self-Service,
Medical Insurance, Multiple Job/Cost Centers, New Hire,
Employee Development, Payroll Interface, Position Control,
Review Forms, Safety, Salary Admin,
Salary Analysis, Salary History, Site Replication,
Skills Tracking, Terminations, Training,
Vacation Accruals, Wellness, Workers Comp,
Other
XIII. Current Data Sources
Identify the current sources for your employee data, including payroll data, spreadsheets, older HRIS systems and databases that you use to track employee information. Your vendor should be easily able to put this data into your new system.
Spreadsheets ___________________________________________________________________
Databases ______________________________________________________________________
Current HRIS ___________________________________________________________________
Payroll data ____________________________________________________________________
Describe the information that is contained in each of the files (list each field of data) and the uses of this information.
File Name
Field Name Description
List your fields Describe the use of this field
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
Describe the amount of data entry that can be saved below
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
XIV. How can an integrated system save you time and effort?
If you are entering data more than once, what is the frequency of errors created due to redundant data entry?
Spreadsheets
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Databases
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Current HRIS
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Payroll Data
Type of information? Current use? Duplicated elsewhere? (Yes/No) Usable for workforce reporting & analysis?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Manual files and information
List all information contained in files and folders with employee information. How much of this information is duplicated in other systems? How difficult is access to this information?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
XV. Schedule
A detailed project schedule is critical to insure a successful implementation. This should cover all elements of the project with target dates. Here is a sample schedule to follow:
Week 1 Complete negotiations with vendor and sign contracts
Week 3 Send specifications for benefit and attendance information to vendor
Week 5 Send sample ASCII files from current HR system and other sources
Week 7 Specifications for reports and modifications completed
Week 12 Send final ASCII files for complete data load
Week 13 Installation of system and initial training
Week 17 Advanced training
Week 21 Report creation training
XVI. Internal Resource Allocation
Some packages may require your internal resources during the implementation. Determine what tasks you will be responsible for. Your chosen vendor should be able to help determine how long each task will take to accomplish.
List all of your Insurance Plans
Plan Name Days to Configure Cost if vendor configures (for vendor use)
Life Insurance ________________ _______________________ _______________
Supplemental ________________ _______________________ _______________
AD&D ________________ _______________________ _______________
STD ________________ _______________________ _______________
LTD ________________ _______________________ _______________
Medical ________________ _______________________ _______________
HMO ________________ _______________________ _______________
PPO ________________ _______________________ _______________
401(k) ________________ _______________________ _______________
FSA ________________ _______________________ _______________
Vision ________________ _______________________ _______________
Other ________________ _______________________ _______________
Other ________________ _______________________ _______________
XVII. Reports
What reports are required for each department in your company? Your HRIS must be able to satisfy your reporting requirements through either standard or easily built custom reports.
Regularly Run Reports:
What reports are run regularly and how often? Are they delivered as Email, Paper or File?
Name Frequency Delivered in what format
Attendance Statements ______________________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Census ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Premium Reconciliation _______________________________________________________________________________
Benefit Statements ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Company Phone Directory ____________________________________________________________________________________
Company Credit/Phone Card Renewals _________________________________________________________________________
Disciplinary Actions __________________________________________________________________________________________
Headcount By Dept/Group ____________________________________________________________________________________
I-9 Document Expiration List ___________________________________________________________________________________
New Hire List _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Termination List _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Training Lists _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments/Notes
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Government Compliance
List all of the reports you will be required to file:
Report Name Required to File Y/N
EEO-1 _________________________________________
EEO-1 Detail ___________________________________
EEO-4 _________________________________________
EEO-4 Detail ___________________________________
EEO New Hire _________________________________
EEO Terminations ______________________________
HIPPA Certificate ______________________________
COBRA Letter _________________________________
Vets 100 ______________________________________
OSHA 101 _____________________________________
Applicant Flow ________________________________
Reject Reason Analysis ________________________
OSHA 200 _____________________________________
Other reports ________________________________
XVIII. Current Projects and Activities
Create a list of all of the current projects that your department performs on a routine or special circumstance basis.
Activity Frequency Time Spent
Create Benefit Statements _____________________________________________________________________________________
Produce Government Reports __________________________________________________________________________________
Calculate vacation accruals ____________________________________________________________________________________
Enter employee time off _______________________________________________________________________________________
Produce headcount reports ___________________________________________________________________________________
Verify insurance premiums _____________________________________________________________________________________
Analyze insurance expenses ___________________________________________________________________________________
Produce imputed income reports ______________________________________________________________________________
Produce accrual liability reports _______________________________________________________________________________
Create COBRA letters _________________________________________________________________________________________
Salary budgeting reports ______________________________________________________________________________________
Employee review forms ________________________________________________________________________________________
Track Applicants ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Employee Disciplinary actions __________________________________________________________________________________
Labor Department Audits ______________________________________________________________________________________
OSHA Reports ________________________________________________________________________________________________
XIX. Required new features
List all of the new features that your department needs in an HRIS:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
XX. Other Considerations
Project Management Capabilities – Will the implementation project be handled internally or managed by the vendor?
Task Internally Vendor Cost:
Project Management ________________________________________________________________________________________
Data Conversion _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Required Custom Reports ___________________________________________________________________________________
Installation __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Staff Availability during implementation – Is the internal staff on vacation, negotiating union contracts, doing special projects or otherwise involved, and how does that affect the start date and length of the project?
Desired Completion Date: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Implementation Start Date: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Expected availability problems: _______________________________________________________________________________
Support Options – Does the vendor offer options which meet your business needs?
Hours ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cost/Call ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Incidents ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Report Writer Support _______________________________________________________________________________________
Toll Free # __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Web/Email Support __________________________________________________________________________________________
Interoperability
Does this solution operate in concert with your current and future systems? ____________________________________
Can this solution interface with other systems if your company changes its payroll, enterprise software, labor management, email systems or other interactive products? ________________________________________________________________________
Current Payroll System _______________________________________________________________________________________
Other Payroll Systems ________________________________________________________________________________________
Time Keeping System _________________________________________________________________________________________
Enterprise Software __________________________________________________________________________________________
Labor Costing System _________________________________________________________________________________________
Other: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Technology – Does this system provide a growth path which coincides with the corporate technology plan (i.e. XML enabled, ODBC compliant, Secured)
MS SQL Server __________________________________________________________________
Oracle _________________________________________________________________________
DB/2 ___________________________________________________________________________
XML/XSL _______________________________________________________________________
Web Services ___________________________________________________________________
Citrix/Terminal Services _________________________________________________________
In house hosting solution ________________________________________________________
Outside hosting solution _________________________________________________________
Other: _________________________________________________________________________
Other: ________________________________________________________________________
XXI. Use this Checklist for comparing products
Create one sheet for each vendor and check off the features of the product. Compare this to your requirements section earlier in this document.
? Accrued Vacation Liabilities
? Additional Compensation
? Attach Word Documents
? Attendance Reports
? Attendance Tracking
? Automatic Benefit Eligibility
? Automatic Benefit Recalculation
? Automatic New Hire Function
? Automatic Report Distribution
? Automatic Termination Function
? Automatically Create Open Positions
? Benefit Reports
? Benefit Statement
? Benefits Administration
? Bonus Tracking
? Budget To Actual
? Calculate Adjusted Dates Of Hire
? Career Development
? Change Field Labels
? Client/Server Version
? Cobra
? Company Holidays
? Company Property
? Company Property Reports
? Compa-Ration Analysis
? Compensation Reports
? Context-Sensitive Help
? Custom Attendance Formulas
? Custom Benefit Formulas
? Custom Code Tables
? Custom Design Fields
? Custom Preferences
? Custom Queries
? Custom Reports
? Custom Salary Grades
? Default New Hire Information
? Departmental Budgets
? Dependant Tracking
? Disability Tracking
? Disciplinary Actions
? Documentation
? Education Tracking
? EEO Reports
? EEO, AAP And Military
? Electronic Notes
? Electronic DOL Handbook
? Electronic Manual
? Email Account Tracking
? Emergency Contact
? Employee Correspondence
? Employee Photos
? Employee Self Service (ESS)
? Employee Skills Development
? Expire Employee Benefits
? Export To ASCII
? Family And Medical Leave
? Field Level Security
? Fill Open Positions
? Financial Planning and Projections
? Full Time Equivalency
? Global Update
? Graphs
? Grievance Tracking
? Handicap Information
? Headcount Analysis
? I-9 Information
? Illness Tracking
? Import From ODBC
? Imputed Income Calculations
? Incentive Pay Tracking
? Internet Updates
? Job Analysis
? Job Electronic Notes
? Job History
? LAN and Wan Versions
? Licensing
? Manager Level Security
? Mass Increase Salaries
? Mass Salary, Job And Benefit Updates
? MS Access Database
? MS Visual Basic 5.0
? Multiple Phone Numbers
? Name Address SSN
? Open Positions
? Organization
? Organization Planning
? OSHA 200
? OSHA Tracking
? Output To Excel
? Output To Excel, Lotus, ASCII
? Output To Word
? Pay Period Dates
? Payroll Input Screen
? Payroll Interface To ADP
? Payroll Interface To Ceridian
? Payroll Interface To in-house
? Performance Reviews
? Plan Definition
? Position Control
? Remove Unused Fields
? Report Grouping And Sorting
? Report Record Selection
? Report Scheduling
? Review And Effective Dates
? Salary Administration
? Salary History
? Salary Mid, Max and Min
? Security Users And Groups
? Select Active Or Terminated Employees
? Self-Service Module
? Seniority Dates
? Shift Information
? Skill Development
? Skills Tracking
? Split Cost Center Job Information
? Succession Planning
? System Audit Function
? System Tutorial
? Track Dependant Coverage
? Training
? Turnover Analysis
? Union Participation
? Unlimited Employee Records
? User Defined Fields
? User Defined Screens
? User Defined Tables
? Users Levels Security
? Vacation Accruals
? Visual Attendance Input
? W4 Data
? Wage and Salary Administration
? What-If Calculations
? Windows 95 Compatible
? Windows 98 Compatible
? Windows NT Compatible
? Workers Compensation
About the Author
Michael Gabriele
Michael Gabriele is President and Chief Executive Officer of PerfectSoftware, and also serves on the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Gabriele founded the company in 1984, serving as a Human Resource Consultant and distributor of 3rd party Human Resource information systems, including InSci, Personality, and ABRA 2000. His expertise includes the areas of HR process development, needs analysis, 401K administration, and the architectural design of applicant tracking and personnel management systems. PerfectSoftware has exhibited phenomenal sales growth under Mr. Gabriele’s leadership.
Mr. Gabriele’s career spans 20 years in the areas of information technology and Human Resources. He has received numerous awards, including the Integrated Systems and Services Division Award of National CSS.
During his tenure at PerfectSoftware, Mr. Gabriele has successfully changed the way the company does business. After conducting a thorough analysis of the middle market, he recognized the need for an affordable, customizable solution for the middle market, built using the latest technology. Such a system was not then available. He purchased the development rights to the HRIS which was best suited to make this vision a reality. Now, PerfectSoftware provides an affordable, high quality, customizable system which meets the individual needs of each client, in its third true Windows version.
By streamlining business practices as well as revamping customer support and implementation procedures, the company has added over 500 customers, since 1989, as the top quality systems provider for the middle market. Today, Perfect Software's customer retention rate is unmatched in the software industry.
Mr. Gabriele’s vision includes a holistic approach to HR functions within the organization. A comprehensive human resource information system should not only enable an HR executive to take control of powerful tracking, reporting, and analysis, but also:
· Affect an organization’s bottom-line
· Make an enterprise-wide, strategic contribution
· Impact an organization’s key issues
· Ensure HR’s value throughout the enterprise
Since founding PerfectSoftware, Mr. Gabriele has gained expertise in 18 unique HR applications, and has been instrumental in the architecture and design of HR, applicant, and 401K administration systems. He has also authored white papers, user guides and technical manuals for these systems.
Prior to forming Perfect Software Mr. Gabriele was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for a software subsidiary of Contel. While there, he also held the positions of Northeast Regional Vice President and Vice President of Sales for the Application Software Division. Prior to joining Contel, he held various sales and management positions for Dun & Bradstreet Computing Services.
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